If she thinks _that_ is theft
...just wait till she finds out who they are going to sell - or have already sold - the data associated with it to!
What was the list of internet 'mugs' that was doing the rounds? Wonder if she's on that yet...
ID cards poster girl laments her £30
Angela Epstein, the Manchester-based columnist and ID cards poster girl, has written a furious lament for the scheme - and she's so angry she's started a Facebook group. "I never wanted to be a poster girl for the ID project," Epstein rages in her latest treatise for the Manchester Evening News. "I never had any kind of …
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 08:53 GMT Ascylto
ID Cards - a 'Solution' , thankfully not Final.
With a name like Epstein she should be much more wary of ID cards and databases. Has she no sense of history?
A little man with an unusual moustache used ID (with the willing help, by the way, of IBM) to sort out the people he wanted liquidated.
£30? She got off lightly!
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 09:31 GMT David Adams
She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle
This is her article when she got the card
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/24563/angela-epstein-uks-first-id-card-holder
Particularly liked this bit:
"Most significantly, some ventured that as a Jew I must be all too familiar with the sinister wartime echoes of having to prove identity. Why didn’t my skin prickle at the very thought of carrying an ID card?
Personally, I cannot see what there is to lose — and there’s certainly everything to gain. An ID card is a portable, convenient way to prove your identity without having to carry something like a passport with you — which is murder to replace if you lose it."
And i'd just like to add; SuperLOLs
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 10:19 GMT Captain Mainwaring
That's the trouble with democracy, Angela
Back in 2005, Labour won the general election with 33% of the popular vote and assumed it had got itself a solid mandate for the role out National ID cards.
The opposition parties objected, the pressure groups complained, but to no avail, the legislation was passed and the procurement contracts obtained. Five years did pass by dear Angela and the Con-Libs did prevail, with 60% of the national vote, they said it was time for change.
So that's where we stand today. Both Conservatives and Liberals have made it quite clear at least for the past 3 years that were implacably opposed to ID cards and would go to the bother of scrapping them should they be elected back into power. Like the Labour party back in 2005, they assume they have a solid mandate from the electorate to pursue this policy and by the end of the summer, hopefully these wretched things will be history. Form a pressure group for their retention if you will Angela, but Labour's ID card project has come to the end of it's natural life-cycle and a hole is being dug for it's burial.
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 10:21 GMT Ben 47
Expiry on Cards
@Captain DaFt
Actually:
"Their cards will become invalid one month after the Identity Documents Bill gains Royal Assent, to allow owners to fulfil travel plans. Shortly after the National Identity Register will be destroyed."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/27/id_cards_bye_then/
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 12:21 GMT JohnG
ID cards, fees and ownership
The £30 fee was for expenses incurred in the processing of the application (and that's what the Identity Cards Act 2006 states). This would put it in line with similar government issued documents such as passports, driving licenses and visas. Such documents are issued to the holder but remain the property of the government and may be withdrawn under certain conditions (as the Identity Cards Act 2006 makes clear). The application for Epstein's ID card was duly processed and she paid for that processing. More accurately, she paid for some of the processing, with the bulk of the costs dumped onto the taxpayer.
IANAL but if the Identity Cards Act 2006 is repealed, perhaps this woman would be able to get her money back by selling her card as a curiosity.
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 13:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Brilliant fail
From her own, earlier blog:
"You may think the £4.7bn scheme is a waste of money and I would admit that the thinking has been flawed in parts. But that’s the beauty of a voluntary scheme and a democratic society. You can choose to have one or not. The Tories have pledged to junk them if they win. And when I had a shmooze with home office minister Meg Hillier on Monday she wouldn’t say whether I’d get my 30 quid back if that happened."
Doh!
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 14:24 GMT Anonymous Coward
Boo frickety hoo ...
"But that’s the beauty of a voluntary scheme and a democratic society. You can choose to have one or not"
So there you go - nobody put a gun to your head and told you you had to shell out £30 for an ID card. You made the choice, knowing full well that your precious bit of plastic would be worth less than nowt after the election if the Tories got in.
You made a choice which, as it turned out, was the wrong one. That's life - deal with it. Consider your £30 to be your contribution to the moron tax and move on.
In the meantime, cry me a river ...
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 23:20 GMT Jason Bloomberg
Poster Girl
"I never wanted to be a poster girl for the ID project," Epstein rages.
I don't recall anyone (other than government and those whose wallets would be filled through involvement) banging on about how bloody wonderful the are, all over the place, given any opportunity, and she's still doing it now!
It is indeed amazing that any Jew cannot see anything wrong with ID Card or the NIR database, does not know or has not learned the lessons of history. I was amazed that anyone, Jewish or not, could not see the dangers.
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Thursday 3rd June 2010 23:26 GMT Merchman
Facebook
There are 2 groups set up on facebook - muppets!
http://www.facebook.com/search/?init=srp&sfxp=&q=id+card&o=69&c1=4#!/group.php?gid=118593128172936&v=info&ref=search
http://www.facebook.com/search/?init=srp&sfxp=&q=id+card&o=69&c1=4#!/group.php?gid=123582937674980&v=wall&ref=search
The wall comments on the 2nd link are particularly amusing.
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Friday 4th June 2010 08:27 GMT britling
But if a company goes bust...
What happens if you lose money in the real world?
If you purchase a product or service from a company that subsequently goes bust, and you didn't use a credit card to pay, then you would have to get in the queue to claim via the receivers. In all likelihood, you would not get all your money back, and may even lose the lot.
So, Epstein's claim that this is tantamount to theft wouldn't hold water even if she was dealing with a private company rather than a new government elected on a mandate to scrap the cards.
http://www.which.co.uk/advice/what-to-do-if-a-company-goes-bust/index.jsp
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Friday 4th June 2010 14:47 GMT Roger Stenning
She's a journo, eh? So much for researching the topic...
The basic definition of theft is defined in S.1(1) of the Act.
The Act states that: "A person shall be guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it."
The key word here is "Dishonestly".
She paid for a product and service.
The product was provided (plastic ID card), and the service was the processing of her application, which presumably included scanning in her photo, fingerprints, and other biometric data ("please insert your retina into the retina scanner, miss"), which were then transcribed into a datafile which was passed through various means onto the card itself.
Since she was provided with what she asked for, there has been no dishonesty there.
The withdrawal of the card was in accordance with the terms and conditions of its issue, which she agreed to when she signed her application for the card in the first place. So, no dishonesty there either.
So.
No case to answer, then.
In short: She's a muppit of the first order.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
